Close Reading. Formal Analysis in Architecture

The formal and syntactic ideas that support an architectural project can programmatically insert it into a system of relations with preceding projects – the precedents – which become ideal interlocutors in a fruitful discourse among different periods and areas of research.

The formal analysis of architectural works – i.e. in the developments that in English-speaking countries are based on the studies by Rudolf Wittkower and Colin Rowe to the most recent “Close Reading” by Peter Eisenman – performs a crucial role in composing this dialogue among architectural works through drawing. These readings are an anticipatory activity for designing new works as a continuous opportunity for the critique and study of architectural ideas.

The exhibition Close Reading, conceived by Lorenzo Degli Esposti and hosted by the Tulpenmanie Gallery in Milan, shows a selection of recent results of formal analysis of masterpieces from Renaissance to contemporary architecture, offering a comparison between Italian, British, and American research, through over 200 drawings.